


Now You See Me

by qrellet (Bai_Marionette)



Category: Original Work
Genre: FMA AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 10:58:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10852572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bai_Marionette/pseuds/qrellet
Summary: Open admissions by candlelight.FMA verse between Alfie and Connor.





	Now You See Me

> "I request an audience with you," the Ishbalan said that night, it was pouring down rain in thick sheets and it was more than a quarter past three in the morning. The Ishbalan looked undeterred by the wet cobblestones or the growing puddles surrounding the walkways. He looked indifferent in the face of many things, but this occasion especially unnerved Connor, the smaller male wasn't even shivering in the cold, let alone the pouring rain.
> 
> "Right now?" Connor began, opening the door wider, being sure to look back and give a short look to one of the wolves being nosy. White fur dashed out of sight. Champ. Connor turned back to the unexpected visitor. "Um, do you want to come out of the rain, uh- I don't know your-"
> 
> "That will be unnecessary," the answer was short but languid, uncaring. No irritation either. "And no, not tonight - tomorrow evening, after nine o'clock," with that, the shorter turned to walk away. The officer panicked, a brief flash of lightning cracking over the sky and looking dangerously close to touching down any second.
> 
> "Hey, wait-!"
> 
> "Oh," the young Ishbalan looked back, face better revealed to show running makeup and unnaturally bright blue eyes. "My name is Alfie."
> 
> Lightning touched down, Connor blinked and when he re-opened his eyes, the shorter was gone.   
> As if he had never been there to begin with.
> 
> Connor shut the door back, locked it and then double checked to be sure it was secure. He shut all of the curtains and drapes, trying to feel a bit more security in thinking that he could hide how those eyes had given him goosebumps. He shivered in the warm foyer. A short whine from his left revealed one of the wolves standing before the others, they had been listening in but only Champ had been caught being to close to their master's peripheral vision. Connor sighed, running a hand through his hair, "It's fine, guys. C'mon let's go back upstairs. Everything's okay, I promise, it's okay."
> 
> He chanced one last look back at the front door, _I hope._

Connor's eyes were still adjusting in the dark as he sat in the wooden chair beside the matching old table. There hadn't been other places to sit and the floor looked less than sanitary, it didn't sit well with him that this was where the other had chosen to meet him to finally give information, but he hadn't been left with very many options. It had taken some nerve for him to show up but the other had looked serious that night and he hadn't wanted to piss them off without figuring out their motives. The other didn't seem particularly threatening, odd - indeed. But dangerous? Connor wasn't sure, he had yet to see them do anything worthy of that kind of title. But then again, odd behavior was often a clue into suspicious individuals so he didn't immediately cast the idea from the pool. A handwritten note had been mysteriously slipped into his workload of documents to oversee for the day, the paper was slightly yellowed and the ink looked organic and only barely past being fresh with a few ink droplets towards the end. Opening it only read to come to a particular tunnel underneath the city, a detail that made the officer wary. The tunnels were off-limits to most military officers, unknown and nonexistent to nearly all of the Ametris citizens, so he had no idea how the other knew about them. He had debated over going to the meeting but eventually gave in, finding a small dotted message on the note at the very end. A number in dots, clever.

Connor cleared his throat in the dark, wondering where the other was. He had seen something move in the dark but his candle was burning down and he wished had brought another. He hadn't thought he would be down here for long. the note had read midnight. Had the other been held up? Has Connor be tricked? He saw something shift in the dark, goosebumps rising as he suppressed checking to see if it was a rat. He didn't want to know, it was sometimes best to leave some stones unturned. He heard a purposeful creak in a wooden board - realizing someone was coming. He hoped it was his mysterious guest of the midnight hour, "So, you told me before that you were twelve during the Ishbalan War-"

"Thirteen," Alfie corrected, stepping out from the shadows, footsteps barely audible even to trained ears. It was unnatural. The colonel forced himself back into his skin, suppressing the urge to jump at the sudden vocal response. Not like the other spoke much, he should have expected that. The Ishbalan continued, small bare feet moving silently over the dirt floors to put the oil lamp upon the wooden table and then straightening up. He kept his hands to his sides, not fidgeting, never fidgeting, Connor noticed. "I was thirteen."

Dark shadows danced over his face, over even darker makeup and red full lips. Unnatural blue eyes looked back at Connor and he forced himself to meet that gaze, something far too neutral about it - like the other was hiding something. The shorter male continued, "I look fairly young for my age."

The officer raised a brow, "And that age is?"

"Twenty four," the smaller responded, unquestioningly, like he was giving a simple answer to an even simpler question.   
As if Connor should have known.

"Right," the blonde went, trying to put that fact aside in his mind for later investigation. "So. Eleven years then?"

"Yes," this was said a bit too coldly in comparison to his previous responses. Something had happened between then and now, something that the shorter was not particularly keen on being reminded of or talking about. Connor made another mental note to keep language neutral and steer away from the usual big trigger topics in conversation. _Avoid all explicit prolonged talk about War then_ , he joked darkly in his mind.

"So." Connor hated this already, the other was staring at him like he was something of a prey but the hunter had been too full from their last meal to really give chase yet. He hated that look, one of his brows twitched. He snapped, "Could you stop staring at me like that?"

The other finally blinked, looking mildly surprised, "My apologies."  
Then went back to casually staring and sizing up the Colonel once more.

Connor wanted to sigh, "Right, so. Why this meeting, let's start there. Why-"

"The homonculi have been active lately," it wasn't a question and it was too knowing.

Connor met the other's eyes, "So you've noticed-"

"What are you planning?" The other asked, coming a bit more forward, their hands were hidden in the pockets of their long skirt. Footsteps were purposely emphasized to show how slow they were going, Connor felt almost trapped and abruptly realized that it had been one. Damn.

Connor tried to backpedal as smoothly as he could, "I don't know what you're talking about-"

The candle exploded in a brief flash of red electricity and hot wax, the blond officer gasped and the Ishbalan was gone from his sight, the oil lamp having been knocked onto the floor and flame blown out of existence on the damp floor.

A knife pressed into his throat and a warm hand was gripping where his wrist was sitting atop the armrest of the chair. Barely a heartbeat later, Connor's eyes adjusted to the complete darkness and saw a shackle attached to his arm. The chair suddenly didn't feel like wood, it felt like stone. A very familiar stone used in Ishbal that Connor knew too well, the smaller had been planning this and had come prepared. Too clever. He looked up to see the Ishbalan with scarlet eyes. _There it was_ , he suddenly realized. _True colors._

"You bleed like no soldier I've led down here before," the Ishbalan said softly with an all-too knowing smile.

Connor was stunned, slightly proud of the other in tricking him thus far in the vaguest of ways whilst also seeming like a genuine information source, the blond wasn't tricked very often.

The knife traced down a vein, never close enough to slice into but enough to feel the cool touch of the metal. Connor forced himself not to see on edge but he was genuinely interested in seeing where this was headed.

The smaller smiled, too knowing, just too knowing, like a smug cat, "Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Wrath."

**Author's Note:**

> i had no real excuse for this tbh


End file.
